MK Ofer Cassif from Hadash–Ta'al accused the Israel Defense Forces of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, stating that "IDF soldiers break into hospitals and attack people," speaking in the Knesset.
His statements caused outrage among other members of the Knesset, including the session speaker. Since Cassif refused to leave the podium, Knesset security was called in to remove him from the chamber forcibly. Cassif's removal did not calm down the altercation between Arab and Jewish lawmakers, and several legislators were removed from the chamber.
Earlier, the Knesset discussed a petition to strip Ofer Cassif of his parliamentary privileges, but ultimately, this initiative failed to pass due to the lack of sufficient support: 85 MKs voted in favor of excluding Cassif, 11 voted against, and 90 votes were required to approve the initiative.
